Niyazov died of heart failure in late December 2006 aged 66. He ruled the country with an iron fist for more than two decades, forcing many prominent opposition activists into exile.
The republic's 1,625 polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m. local time (03:00 a.m. GMT) and closed at 6:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. GMT). A total of 98.65% of registered voters had come to the polls, the republic's central election commission said.
Six candidates ran for the presidency but acting president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is considered as the favorite in the presidential race.
However, the Turkmen opposition said the high voter turnout was falsified by the authorities.
"We have quite enough proofs from Turkmenistan showing that the electors' activity was several times lower than that announced by the central election commission," Khudaiberdy Orazov, the leader of the Vatan (Homeland) movement, said in an interview with RIA Novosti over the phone from Sweden.
The final results of the presidential elections in Turkmenistan will be announced February 13 and officially endorsed February 14.
